Friday, June 24, 2011

Straw bale gardening

Here's Penny's straw bale "garden," a few days after planting.  As you can see, one bale has begun to decompose faster than the other.  I've planted tomatoes, a pepper, an eggplant and impatiens to dress it up a little.

The idea is to see if we can truly grow veggies on concrete!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

square foot gardening

our square foot garden without the deer netting

Square foot gardening is one way to organize raised beds for a garden. Here is an example of a 4 foot square container garden that some students made for a retired kindergarten teacher. We used the guidance of Mel Bartholomew's book, All New Square Foot Gardening. We used untreated pine lumber planks that were 8 inches wide.  There is a barrier on the ground and we mixed compost, peat, and vermiculite to fill in the box. The white lath strips mark out the 16 squares.The 1/2 inch diameter PVC pipe bends nicely to make a frame for a cover of the garden. We planted marigolds in the corners, then radishes, carrots, and leaf lettuces around the perimeter with cabbages and green peppers in the center squares. The kids liked using the power drill and screwdriver! And they were very proud of their finished garden!

written by Fern

Monday, June 20, 2011

Straw bale gardening at last!

I finally planted my straw bale garden today, after many weeks of watching the two bales sit there, turning into compost!  Fern and I had gotten straw bales from a local farm, after learning about them at the PA State Extension in Montgomery County.  One has to "season" them for two weeks first (water one day; fertilize with a high-nitrogen fertilizer the alternative day; continue for 10-12 days).  My problem was I kept forgetting to keep it up.  Anyway, I planted two tomatoes (one cherry, one Big Boy), one pepper, one eggplant and impatiens "for pretty."  I'll post a photo tomorrow.  I noticed one bale has really begun to decompose and is half the height of the other, and I wondered if the high-nitrogen fertilizer will interfere with fruit forming on the veggie plants.  If this works, it'll be terrific for schools that only have blacktop!  Penny

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Kids in the Garden

Can you remember nibbling on berries from a plant that you found along the road...or in a raspberry patch? Yum!

written by Fern

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Gardening With Kids in the Delaware Valley



We are two educators with roots in numerous schools of the Delaware Valley. We were greatly inspired by our attendance at the 2009 Gardens and Children conference sponsored by the American Horticultural Society. We benefitted greatly from all the folks we met at the conference and were inspired to try new things with children and gardens the following school year.  




 
Because the next year's event was too far away for us to attend, we decided to create a mini gathering for educators and volunteers who garden with students here in our area. We invited many folks in the greater Philadelphia area with interests and knowledge about many aspects of this same topic. Our participants included public and private school classroom teachers, Penn State Ag Extension Master Gardeners, youth interns from local high schools, an urban farmer, a Bartram's Garden museum educator, and Pennsylvania Horticultural Society educators.



This year will be our second gathering. Again, we want to provide a forum for sharing and learning together. We will meet the first week in August.  We hope you will join us in exploring and learning about some of the wonderful resources of our own area, as well as sharing expertise and offering mutual support.

 We are eager to meet you and learn from you while sharing things that we have learned and tried ourselves. Come join us to see some wonderful places where gardens, plants, and children connect. Each day will begin in a different location. In addition, participants will be encouraged to recommend nearby sites that we might also visit on a given day. Each day we will tour a specific site to gain ideas and learn how gardens are used with students. We will use the location as a springboard for our own conversations, sharings and curricular planning as the participants see fit.

We want this blog to be a conversation for all adults interested in gardening with children. We welcome your experiences, photos, questions, and advice. Please share this blog with anyone you know who also might be interested.